Danger Mouse “The Grey Album” (Best of the Decade)
The Go! Team, Madvillain and the Arcade Fire be damned, my favorite album of 2004 is/was Danger Mouse’s Grey Album. On the surface a mashup album by a (then) unknown producer might be an odd, if not poor, decision—but I don’t think that there has been another album this decade that has had as much influence on the what I listen to as much as The Grey Album.
Though released earlier, on February 24, 2004 The Grey Album was downloaded over 100,000 times on well over a hundred music sites pledged to dedicating their server load in order to share the album, unified in protest of EMI’s widespread cease and desist threats aimed at suspending the spread of the album. And, though the media controversy that surrounded the release somewhat overshadowed the album itself, the music behind the movement is brilliant—so much so that I still consider it my favorite mashup album. Validating how truly great Danger Mouse’s production was (not to mention the concept of the album, itself) were a wave of similarly titled/themed albums which followed, including Weezer, Metallica and Prince mashup albums and the Collision Course record that Jay-Z recorded with Linkin Park; though none succeeded in matching the energy and excitement of Danger Mouse’s breakthrough.
